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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22652218">How To Say This</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernStone/pseuds/FernStone'>FernStone</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Femslash February 2020 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>His Dark Materials (TV), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad Flirting, Education, F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Femslash February 2020, Flirting, Lyra's World (His Dark Materials), Pan is so done with lyra, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:13:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,356</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22652218</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernStone/pseuds/FernStone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Pan flicked his tail against her in irritation. “Don’t pretend you’re not waiting for one person to leave the library.” </p><p>“Hush,” Lyra pouted,  tapping his nose gently even as her face heated up. “I e’nt waiting for anyone.”</p><p>“You so are,” Pan teased, eyes so smug that Lyra half wanted to throw him off her (but that would hurt them both). “You can’t hide anything from me.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lyra Belacqua/Original Character, Lyra Belacqua/Original Female Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Femslash February 2020 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617541</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Femslash February</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>How To Say This</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Day 10 - Competition. Own prompt, Education.</p><p>Whoa 1/3 through. Also doing all I can to get that femslash into HDM fandom CAUSE ALL IT IS RN IS MASRIEL AND GOSH gimme some more. Like I am a massive LyraWill shipper but also uhm Lyra is bi/pan in my opinion and I will keep writing Lyra/OFC fics ty.</p><p>Also accidentally went against my own wordcount limit this time oops...</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>St Sophia's is something of a prestigious institution. To offer education to girls is one thing, nevermind one of the quality it does. Very few go and any who do are bound to be scholars when they're done.</p><p>When Lyra first joined at the age of thirteen she had a lot to catch up on. She'd never had a formal education as a child, and only a few months with her mother before all hell had broken loose. There hadn't been time for proper learning when she was journeying across the worlds. Of course, she'd gained so much knowledge. She probably knew more about dust than even some of the top scholars. And while she couldn't read the alethiometer intuitively anymore she had an incredible grounding for beginning her studies in it. Not that any other girls her age were learning how to read it, for it was incredibly restricted who could - never mind actually accessing an alethiometer. Lyra was lucky to have her own.</p><p>It was the basics she lacked in. And it had been hard to conform to such a structured environment after the years of running free. She still missed the younger, wilder her. At least she could live vicariously through Pan when he wandered from her.</p><p>But now, at sixteen, she was consistently one of the top of her class. She'd worked herself to the bone to get there but her natural intelligence, inherited from two scholar parents, helped. Before she'd been dependent on only her instincts. But when she applied herself she was truly smart. Though Pan still snorted and said that couldn't be true. They'd gotten into an argument over that, but hadn't taken long to make up.</p><p>She kept to herself as well, not wanting to form connections with anyone in her class. She felt a distance that she guessed was only natural after everything she'd been through. She'd lost so many and didn't want to go through that again. </p><p>The closest interaction she had was with her direct competition for the top spot. Rhea Cross was incredibly bright and witty, dark hair and features complemented by brown eyes that shone with snide remarks. Her daemon was a raven, jet black and just as beautiful as she was. If Lyra was almost friends with someone it was her.</p><p>Well rivals was probably a better term for it. If Lyra caught herself staring at Rhea for too long, nobody would know. It wasn't her fault that she was so stunning.</p><p>“I don’t understand why we’re waiting here,” Pan commented, curled around her shoulders. He couldn’t do it quite as easily as he once had, having settled in a larger form than his previously prefered one of an ermine, but that didn’t stop him. It was like having a large and moving scarf.</p><p>“Because I like watching people leaving the library,” Lyra responded, legs swinging over the rooftop she was sitting on. “They’re all so stressed and in such a hurry.”</p><p>“You get like that when you have a deadline.”</p><p>“Not that much,” Lyra rolled her eyes and pointed to a slightly older girl who was speeding across the courtyard with a pile of books in her arms. Her face was screwed up in a deep scowl and a flustered blush was settled on her pale cheeks. “She’s pretty cute, too.”</p><p>Pan flicked his tail against her in irritation. “Don’t pretend you’re not waiting for one person to leave the library.” </p><p>“Hush,” Lyra pouted,  tapping his nose gently even as her face heated up. “I e’nt waiting for anyone.”</p><p>“You so are,” Pan teased, eyes so smug that Lyra half wanted to throw him off her (but that would hurt them both). “You can’t hide anything from me.”</p><p>“As if you don’t want to see Vala too,” Lyra snorted, speaking of Rhea’s daemon that Pan had been eyeing up just as much as Lyra had been watching the girl. “And it’s not like we’ve got anything better to do.”</p><p>“Well, you could be actually looking out for her,” Pan was suddenly alert, dark eyes locking in on where the object of their attention strode out of a door and into the courtyard.</p><p>“That’s what I’ve got you for,” Lyra grinned, hopping up and lightly running across the roof that ran along the courtyard. Pan muttered in her ear about how stupidly persistent she was and what was she even going to talk about, anyway. Lyra ignored him completely. He hadn’t grown out of nagging her at all. She supposed he was the only one she had to do that for her.</p><p>She shook away that sobering thought and hopped off the roof, landing with only a slight stumble right next to Rhea. To her credit the other girl only jumped a little bit in shock before fixing Lyra with a “are you serious?” look. </p><p>“Trying a bit heard, e’nt you?” Lyra started with a grin, easily keeping up with Rhea even as the slightly taller girl continued to walk. “You’ve been in the library for hours. Worried I’m gonna beat you?”</p><p>Good flirting, Pan thought sarcastically to her. Lyra ignored him apart from a subtle dirty look at the daemon still curled around her shoulder. Once again she was tempted to shove him off. Have you actually tried… complimenting her?</p><p>Lyra snorted lightly, knowing that he was right and resenting it - it wasn’t like he had more dating experience than her! It had been much easier with Will.</p><p>“I just prefer not to slack off and then have to cram right before deadlines and exams,” Rhea retorted, sharp grin matching the teasing light in Lyra’s eyes. Lyra felt herself falling for her more. </p><p>“Alright, no need to throw insults here,” Lyra shoved her hands into the pockets of her dress as she followed Rhea towards the dorms. </p><p>“Says the one who started it. Weren’t you taught it’s no polite to jump from a roof and insult someone, before following them home.”</p><p>“We live in the same building!” Lyra gasped, grasping her heart as if she were wounded. Dramatics were still her speciality. “And I wasn’t exactly raised normally, where I’m from jumping from a roof is normal.”</p><p>“You’re from Jordan College.”</p><p>“Exactly,” Lyra nodded as if her point was made, and it wasn’t a combination of her personality and otherwise wild upbringing that had her still running about rooftops (and the freedom they gave her that she now lacked in a stiflingly structured life). “Wild place, Jordan is. Full of male scholars.”</p><p>Rhea made a face at that. “Yes, I can’t say I like the idea of that.” </p><p>“Men are pretty awful,” Lyra nodded, mentally apologising to Will (though he was so unlike the others). “Women are much better.”</p><p>“Hmm, that’s one thing we can agree one,” the taller girl nodded, the lightest of smiles on her lips and making Lyra’s heart race. They’d stopped in front of the back entrance of their dorm building - one that led quickly to Rhea’s room, but not Lyra’s. “I hope you’re not going to follow me all the way to my room.”</p><p>“I’m not going to do that,” Lyra shook her head even as the thought had crossed her mind. Pan snorted. “Well, I guess this is goodbye then.”</p><p>“Until tomorrow,” Rhea nodded, pushing the door open.</p><p>“Rhea, wait,” Lyra grabbed her hand before she could fully walk in. The other girl turned to her with narrowed eyes. “I, uh, do you want to study with me tomorrow?”</p><p>Rhea raised an eyebrow before a knowing smirk settled on her lips. “Sure, tomorrow. See you then.”</p><p>The door collapsed and Lyra allowed a wide grin to cross her lips as she pumped a fist in the air. </p><p>“Did you just get a date?” Pan asked in complete disbelief. “How did that work?”</p><p>“Yeah I did! Don’t know, don’t care, all that matters is that I got it.”</p><p>Pan snorted again but she could feel his pleasure radiating towards her, even as he refused to show it openly. She grinned down at him and spun around, heading towards her room with a skip in her step.</p>
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